A place for couples dealing with illness to find resources and advice, hear stories, and discover support. Whether the illness is chronic or acute, the result of disease or accident, couples can learn strategies for coping with the changes illness brings into our relationships and our worlds.
The information provided in this blog is for educational and support purposes only. It should not be used as a substitute for seeking professional care.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Two Sides of Back Pain

I did too ambitious a plow pose in yoga class today, and heard my back make a suspicious popping sound. When I rolled out of the position, I couldn't sit up straight. Bent over like a crone with a cane, I inched my way to my car and made it home. I have been icing my back and crunching Advil for the last few hours.

My reaction to my body failing in any way is so convoluted since the peak days of suffering with a pain condition. On the one hand, I want to shout, "I've paid my dues. I earned a lifetime get-out-of-pain card. Pass me by and give that 20 year old in purple spandex a broken finger nail instead.

On the other hand, it's a bit delicious to have a normal person's ailment. Something with a known cause, a clear treatment, and most importantly, an end date. I'm seeing my chiropractor tomorrow and expect to be down-dogging again by the weekend.

4 comments:

We too have this problem in my home country of Norway. Sometimes, when I am working, with my brother Olaf, on our herring fishing boat, I am being too abitious in lifting the herring. My back is also pooping and Olaf has two put me in a bigg herring barrel and role me around the forecastle until I unpoop.

I was thinking of trying yoga for my chronic pain.Do you think it makes a huge difference?It's so hard to get going when pain just holds you back. But I guess the first person to help has to be yourself...Great articles, take carexxxUndiagnosed Illness

Oh my goodness, I totally know what your saying about having a "normal" ailment. It's a novelty for me when I get a cold. I finally allow myself to rest, and bizarrely quite often have more energy than usual.

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About Me

In November, 1999 I was whacked with a mysterious chronic pain syndrome that took me out of my life. With the help of my husband, my dog, and a combination of western and alternative approaches, I have a new life that includes working, writing, mountain climbing, smiling, and managing pain. I learned a lot along the way, especially about illness and the couple relationship. I'm also a psychotherapist, a business consultant, and have written a book about couples and illness, which was published in March 2013 (Roundtree Press)

“Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”Susan Sontag